Ireland team: Five takeaways as Andy Farrell backs ‘new old kid’ and ‘two-fingered salute’ delivered to bungling officials
Ireland huddle in Chicago ahead of a match that featured a now rescinded red card for Tadhg Beirne, inset
After the announcement of the Ireland team to face Japan at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, here are our five takeaways from Andy Farrell’s selection.
‘New old kid’ on the block
Tom Farrell won’t make history as Ireland’s oldest ever new cap this Saturday. That milestone still belongs to Nathan White, the prop who was 33 when he debuted versus Scotland in 2015 before the Rugby World Cup.
However, the selection of the Munster midfielder for a maiden run at international level is a lesson for 30-somethings to never give up on their dreams. Farrell turned 32 last month and must have felt that getting an Irish call-up was beyond him despite being in the form of his life at provincial level.
Head coach Farrell overlooked the ex-Connacht player when naming his Autumn Nations Series squad on October 15, but he soon changed his mind following the avalanche of criticism that enveloped him on the back of Munster’s October 18 United Rugby Championship destruction of Leinster, which included a worldie of a try from Farrell.
Injury concerns about Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw were officially given as the reason for Farrell’s belated ticket for Chicago.
Having watched from the stands as Ireland squandered a 13-7 lead against the All Blacks to lose 13-26 with a starting midfield of Garry Ringrose and Stuart McCloskey (who are now both injured), with Aki in reserve, Farrell has now been handed a debut start in a partnership with Henshaw.
Coach Farrell was spot on in his team announcement in describing his namesake’s debut call as “a real Roy of the Rovers story”. Unwanted by Leinster, Pat Lam took him to Connacht, where eight years of gradual progress eventually culminated in a 2023 switch to Munster.
Now he is set for an Ireland debut as a new ‘old kid’ on the block. He will hope it’s a memorable one after such a long wait.
Captain Doris
It was a rotten luck type return for Caelan Doris in Chicago. Having missed out on British and Irish Lions tour selection – and the likely captaincy ahead of Maro Itoje – due to the serious shoulder injury sustained in Leinster’s European semi-final defeat to Northampton, he was back in harness last weekend after a six-month lay-off.
The Irish had just gone 13-7 up at Soldier Field when he was ushered onto the field as a replacement for Jack Conan. However, instead of going on to help his team to what would have been a huge Test win, he was instead caught up in the three-try onslaught that took New Zealand to their 13-point victory.
Without any provincial outing to help get him back up to speed, it was an excessive challenge for Doris to step into the international arena and immediately look the part.
With Ireland coming under the pump during his comeback appearance as a replacement, he was credited with just two carries which was wounding for the Irish as that is a massive aspect of Doris’ game.
However, in racking up 13 tackles and finishing as the game’s fourth busiest tackler, he showed that the shoulder was as good as new when it came to the collisions without the ball.
That was an encouraging positive but with Ireland’s all-round attack not up to much in the USA, there will be an onus on Doris to now show there is no rustiness to that side of his game given that he should be provided with plenty of possessions against the Japanese.
Creativity hasn’t been Ireland’s forte in some time. You have to go back to the opening 20 minutes of the second half of the opening 2025 Six Nations match versus England for the last time it zipped against top-tier opposition.
With Australia and South Africa coming over the Dublin horizon in the following weeks, there will be an emphasis on restored captain Doris to lead the charge and light things up.
Crowley very much Farrell’s man again
With those bigger tasks ahead on November 15 and 23, it would have been understandable had head coach Farrell opted to rest Jack Crowley and instead hand Sam Prendergast a start against the Japanese to potentially get his knocked confidence back up to where it was.
The youngster is currently in a difficult bind. It was last year when the head coach gambled and backed him as he started ahead of Crowley, a selection preference that continued during the Six Nations with Simon Easterby in charge on an interim basis with Farrell on Lions scouting duty.
But now the tables have turned again, with Crowley dining out as the man in possession and Prendergast struggling for form amid criticism that he isn’t up to international standard.
It was only after Ireland fell 13-21 behind that the 22-year-old Prendergast was given the closing 12 minutes in Chicago and, behind a wilting pack, it was a backs-to-the-wall experience that didn’t reflect well on him.
That disappointment has now been compounded by Farrell sticking with Crowley for the game against Japan, showing that the Munster playmaker is very much his man again as the Irish No.10 after a year of tough love that involved a club transfer flirtation with Leicester before a new IRFU central contract deal was hammered out.
Two-fingered salute
Ireland’s selection of Tadhg Beirne in the second row is very much a two-fingered salute to the match officials whose inability to do their jobs properly very much contributed to last weekend’s match versus New Zealand being a deflating, dull spectacle after all the build-up hype.
The damaging red card brandished to Beirne highlighted the ineptitude of the foul player review bunker gimmick that World Rugby has placed so much emphasis on.
Yellow carded just minutes into the match by unconvincing referee Pierre Brousset for a collision with Beauden Barrett, the clash was referred to the bunker for further review and the verdict that was eventually reached was that it was a 20-minute red card offence.
Except it wasn’t. The subsequent disciplinary hearing decided that the incident didn’t meet the red card threshold, freeing Beirne to start against Japan and adding fuel to the fire that World Rugby must abandon this foul play bunker and restore the decision-making process to the on-field referee.
It was of no solace to Beirne that the red card was rescinded, and he did not have to serve a suspension. That decision came too many days too late for him to play his full part against the All Blacks, but it would be apt if he now went out and played up a storm versus the Japanese.
In the meantime, the incorrect decision-reaching Jones is said to be on foul play bunker duty in Batumi this weekend with Georgia hosting the USA. Let’s hope he doesn’t make a balls-up of that one after ruining the Chicago fixture. Rugby really needs to stop repeatedly making a fool of itself in these situations.
Statement performance
Head coach Farrell could do with some of his less experienced players finally demonstrating that they do really belong at Test level, as the depth of the Irish squad is in question two years out from the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Tommy O’Brien, Thomas Clarkson and Nick Timoney have all been handed welcome opportunities to deepen their appreciation of their value to the squad at wing, tighthead and openside, respectively. That trio has 15 caps between them, so they will be cut some degree of slack if their efforts are not pitch-perfect on Saturday.
The deliberations over the likes of Craig Casey and Ryan Baird will be less forgiving if their displays don’t catch the eye for all the right reasons. Both have been on the scene for quite some time – Casey is set for his 22nd appearance at scrum-half while Baird is earning his 31st.
However, it is fair to say that they have yet to produce full-on statement performances that leave fans in no doubt over their capabilities at Test level.
Baird admittedly was one of the few bright spots in the loss to New Zealand, stepping things up with Beirne red-carded, but it is standout displays in a winning Irish team that make the man. It’s time for the blindside and the No.9 to start taking giant steps and growing their reputations as proven internationals.